USAFE Won’t Add Extra F-35 Squadrons—But Will Get Rotation of F-22s, New Commander Says

July 19, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

FAIRFORD, U.K.—At a NATO summit in June, President Joe Biden highlighted the two F-35 squadrons the U.S. is placing in the United Kingdom as part of his administration’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But once those two squadrons, both stationed at RAF Lakenheath, are built out, the U.S. has no immediate plans to further expand its permanent fleet of F-35 fighters in Europe, the new commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe said.

At the same time, Gen. James B. Hecker said in an exclusive interview with Air Force Magazine at the Royal International Air Tattoo, the number of American fifth-generation fighters on the continent will be bolstered.

“Right now, we have, I think it’s like 11 aircraft [at Lakenheath], so it’s just the one F-35 squadron that’s kind of stood up, and they’re half-filled,” Hecker said July 17. “They’re going to eventually have … by 2024 two different squadrons of F-35s there for a total of 52 aircraft, F-35s. We’ll still have the Strike Eagles there, so another two squadrons of [F-15E] Strike Eagles. Right now, that is the limit of the F-35s that we’re going to have in Europe from the United States.”

In addition to those Lakenheath fighters, though, Hecker said USAFE will continue to get help from F-35s stationed in the U.S.

“We have some at Hill Air Force Base. We have some at Vermont. Vermont, right now, coincidentally, has 12 F-35s over here in Europe,” Hecker said. “So we can get them here in a hurry, pretty quickly if we need to build up.”

Those F-35s from the Vermont Air National Guard arrived in early May at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, replacing F-35s from the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, which had arrived in February. While in Europe, the Vermont fighters have assisted with NATO’s air policing mission, conducting missions over Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, among others.

When they leave, Hecker indicated they’ll be succeeded by still more fifth-gen fighters.

“We’re bringing over F-22s … that are going to be coming over shortly, within a month, and they’ll spend four or five months over here,” Hecker said. “So we’re going to constantly cycle in fifth-generation in addition to what will eventually be two permanent squadrons at Lakenheath. So we’ll be cycling it in here in the meantime.”

That approach of swapping in and out extra fighters will last for around a year, Hecker said, as part of a broader Pentagon strategy to mainly rely on rotational forces to bolster the U.S. presence in Europe.

“This is not strictly just to the Air Force, but this is what the Army is going to be doing as well … So what we’re going to do is just kind of have six, 12 kinds of airplanes that will come in here for four months, and we’ll do that for about a year or so, in addition with all the permanent aircraft that we have stationed here,” Hecker said. “And that will increase our presence here, and then we’ll have to readjust and see what this thing looks like a year from now, and then we can adjust as necessary.”

There are several reasons why more permanently based F-35s won’t happen right now, Hecker added.

“We can’t just permanently bring a bunch of aircraft over here. We have about half the number of fighter squadrons that we did 30-some-odd years ago. So we just don’t have enough where we can just permanently put a bunch here,” said Hecker. “Likewise, the pacing threat is China. So being a team player, even though I’m [USAFE-AFAFRICA] now, I realize the National Defense Strategy says we need to keep our eyes on China as well. So we can’t just be asking for everything here because we also have to make sure we’re deterring China in the Pacific.”

But while the number of permanently based U.S. F-35s will stay at the 52 aircraft spread among two squadrons, the total number of F-35s across Europe is slated to grow substantially as more and more partner nations indicate they’ll buy the Joint Strike Fighter.

In recent months, Germany, Greece, Finland, and Switzerland have all indicated plans to buy F-35s, on top of nations like the U.K., Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland that have already signed deals to do so.

In 2021, former head of U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Gen. Tod D. Wolters predicted that by 2030, there would be 450 F-35s spread across Europe. A year later, he bumped up that prediction to 550.

Now, Hecker is predicting even more, albeit by a later date.

“Right now, we have six countries that have the F-35 over here and have 120ish F-35s, which is very capable,” Hecker said. “But if you look down the road, by about the 2040 timeframe, we’re going to have over 600 F-35s here, and that will be a big, big deterrent against anybody who wants to take on NATO.”

Such a future will obviously increase interoperability, Hecker said. But the allies will still need to train and practice things such as tactics, he said—and they will need to work alongside fourth-generation aircraft, too.

“Not everybody is going to have F-35s. … Almost all countries will still have fourth generation,” Hecker said. “So we need to work on, how do we integrate fifth-generation with fourth-generation? Because once the mass goes up, we’re not going to have enough strictly fifth-gen that that’s all we use,” Hecker said. “So we need to use the F-35 to kind of knock down the door, gain some air superiority where we can get the fourth-generation in to finish and complete the job they can do once we get air superiority.”

F-35 JPO and Lockheed Martin Reach Handshake Deal for 375 Aircraft

July 19, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

More than 10 months beyond the originally expected goal, the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin have reached a “handshake deal” on Lots 15-17 of the fighter, which collectively will amount to only 375 aircraft.

No pricing information was included in the JPO’s July 18 announcement, which awaits formal signature. The announcement included no by-country or by-variant breakdown.

While the per-year production rate is unlikely to be the same across all three lots, at 375, production will average 125 aircraft a year. That’s well below the 156 per year that Lockheed Martin CEO James D Taiclet told stock analysts in a January conference call. In that call, acting Chief Financial Officer John Mollard said “the last thing you want is a sawtooth pattern” of up-and-down rates of production.

Negotiations had been dragging because of disagreements between Lockheed Martin and the JPO about volatile inflation and labor costs, both of which have shifted dramatically since the fall. Former JPO program executive officer retired Lt. Gen. Eric Fick had predicted a deal in November 2021, and then again in March of this year, but agreement on escalation costs proved elusive.

Both the JPO and Lockheed have suggested that the years-long pattern of lot-over-lot unit price reductions on the F-35 will end with Lot 15-17 because the package includes more-capable aircraft and because the military services have reduced their annual buys in anticipation of ramping up again when the Block 4 version of the airplane becomes available.

Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William A. LaPlante, in a statement released through the JPO, said he is pleased to announce the “handshake deal … on the basis of 375 aircraft.” He called the agreement a milestone for the program, the F-35 enterprise, “and our international partners.” He promised specifics when the contract is awarded.

“Our plan is to expedite contract award and deliver additional F-35 capacity” to the U.S. and its international partners, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt, the new F-35 PEO, who assumed his post in the last few weeks.

The JPO said “significant progress” was made in negotiations over the last three months. There were “significant real-world challenges—including the COVID-19 pandemic, associated supply chain impacts, and workforce disruptions, and inflation.”

The JPO said the quantity “may change based on any adjustments made” by Congress in its fiscal 2023 budget negotiations “and any orders requested by international partners.”

The company and the JPO said they are working first to ink a deal for Lots 15 and 16 “as a high priority.” The JPO will “exercise a contract option for Lot 17 in FY 2023” after the fiscal 2023 budget is made final, in order to take into account any congressional adds or international orders.

Lockheed Martin said through a spokesperson that the deal was reached through “a collaborative effort” with the JPO, “our suppliers and teammates, “in the midst of COVID-19 impacts and decreased F-35 quantities.”

The company said the parties were “able to achieve a cost per jet lower than record-breaking inflation trends” and noted that the version negotiated “includes modernized hardware needed to power Block 4 capabilities,” such as the Tech Refresh 2 and 3 upgrades that offer increased processing power. These improvements “will ensure the F-35 remains the world’s most capable aircraft in production today.”

SDA Awards $1.3B to L3Harris and Northrop Grumman for 28 Missile-Tracking Satellites

July 18, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

The Space Development Agency awarded L3Harris and Northrop Grumman Strategic Space Systems contracts to build Tranche 1 of the Tracking Layer for its planned National Defense Space Architecture, a multipurpose defense constellation.

Each company will build 14 low-Earth-orbit satellites to detect and track the infrared signatures of missile launches and flights. The fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act passed in March added funds to speed up contracting.

Emphasizing the project’s rapid timeline, SDA Director Derek Tournear told reporters July 18 that within two days of the appropriation “we released a solicitation for the Tracking Tranche 1 satellites, and [now] here were are, about 120 days later, with two performers on contract.”

SDA awarded $700 million to L3Harris, or about $50 million per satellite; and $671 million to Northrop Grumman, or about $44 million per satellite. The total cost to operationalize those satellites will total about $2.5 billion, including four rocket launches and the ground architecture to operate the constellation, Tournear said.

The rapid development timeline favored proven suppliers that have already commoditized satellite components, he acknowledged, making it possible for the satellites to be “developed and produced very quickly in a factory type of model.” He declined to name which subcontractors were working with the two primes. He offered only that the winning proposals involved “new entrants in a lot of the sub-component vendors.”

America’s ability to detect missile launches becomes more resilient with the addition of the Tracking Layer, Tournear said. The size of the constellation means the loss of any single satellite will not interrupt the ability to detect and track.

The Space Force’s Space Warfighting Analysis Center wants the missile-warning architecture to be proliferated constellations in both low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO). “So essentially … you have to take out LEO and MEO to take out the capabilities,” Tournear said.

SDA expects the new Tracking Layer to provide the added benefit of being able to not just detect missile launches but to track maneuverable hypersonic glide vehicles, Tournear said. “We don’t have zero capability to do tracking, but most everything we do is designed around doing what we call missile warning,” Tournear said. “So we will not only be able to do the old-school mission of missile warning—detect the launch and predict the impact point—but we’ll be able to detect it as it’s maneuvering and changing its impact point and be able to send that [data] down and … tell an interceptor exactly where that missile is headed.”

The planned constellation includes the Tracking Layer and a Transport Layer for moving data around, which are together projected to number in the hundreds at any given time. New tranches going up every two years will refresh the technology. The satellites have a five-year predicted lifespan.

The first tranche of data-transport satellites will precede the first 28 missile-tracking satellites into space. Four launches required to take the tracking satellites to four different orbital planes start in April 2025.

Air Force Successfully Tests Redesigned AMRAAM AIM-120D3

July 18, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

The Air Force successfully tested its redesigned Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) Form, Fit, Function Refresh (F3R), firing the AIM-120D3 missile June 30 from an F-15E Strike Eagle at a target over the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida coast.

The first of five live-fire tests, it assessed a full hardware system redesign of early 2000s technology components in the Raytheon missile.

“The core objective of this test was to execute a long range shot that physically stressed the new missile hardware,” Maj. Heath Honaker, the 28th Test and Evaluation Squadron’s director of engineering and advanced programs, said in a statement provided to Air Force Magazine.

“Successful execution proves the redesigned hardware and software are progressing as expected and puts us one step closer to fielding a reliable, sustainable air-to-air capability to the warfighter,” Honaker added.

The $125 million F3R program began in December 2021 and included new software and missile guidance systems tailored to rapidly evolving threats, Raytheon officials said at the time of the award’s announcement.

The Air Force and members of the defense industry were involved in the lead-up to the test that took place in the Eglin Gulf Test Range against a QF-16 drone.

The 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., provided supporting entities such as the 28th TES, which designed, planned, and executed the test; and the 85th TES, which provided the aircraft and pilots. The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group out of Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., provided the QF-16 drone; the 96th Range Group at Eglin provided data collection support and range infrastructure; and the 96th Test Wing safety office monitored live fire munitions of the Raytheon product.

The AIM-120D reached initial operational capability for the Air Force and Navy in 2015 as an active radar-guided intercept missile with GPS-aided navigation and electronic protection capabilities.

Honaker said F3R will enable “high-confidence AIM-120D production” for the remainder of the missile lifecycle.

Raytheon engineers used model-based systems engineering and other digital technologies to upgrade multiple circuit cards and hardware in the guidance section of the missile.

“F3R upgrades multiple circuit cards to address obsolescence, enhances the weapon’s capabilities, and extends the production line for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and our Allied partners,” Paul Ferraro, president of Air Power at Raytheon Missiles & Defense, said in a statement.

The live fire of the AIM-120D3 is the first of five planned missile shots to qualify the new missile for production and fielding.

African Coups Give China and Russia an Edge in Restive Sahel

July 18, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

Service members working to fight terrorist groups expanding in Africa have their hands tied by restrictions on security cooperation with military-led countries, giving China and Russia an edge, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Africa Chidi Blyden told senators July 12.

The restive Sahel region of Africa consists of five vast, sub-Saharan nations plagued by terrorist groups that have helped unseat democracies and welcomed America’s strategic competitors. Three of the five nations—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad—have undergone coups in the past two years. The coups trigger a State Department restriction on security cooperation and leave the Defense Department with just one main partner in the region, Niger, which is home to the heavily fortified Air Base 101 and Air Base 201, which are used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance of terrorist groups.

“Russia and the [People’s Republic of China] routinely provide training and defense articles to African nations,” Blyden told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on insecurity in the Sahel.

“While our African partners have stated repeatedly that they prefer our training and defense articles, they turn to our competitors when we are not responsive to their requests,” she added. “Ending our U.S. security cooperation has affected our bilateral engagement.”

Blyden called for finding a way to continue engaging with the Sahel nations so that access and influence are not lost to America’s competitors, but senators sought to further restrict opportunities for cooperation.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) urged the State Department to impose travel sanctions on foreign government officials who were involved in the coups. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), meanwhile, introduced legislation to further expand the vetting of foreign military officers before they are allowed to participate in U.S. training programs.

Robert Jenkins, assistant administrator of the Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization at the U.S. Agency for International Development, painted a picture of what a loss of American influence looks like in the Sahel.

“It’s a region where we’ve seen young people dancing in support of military takeovers, waving Russian flags, and repeating the disinformation that targets them relentlessly,” he said, describing scenes from Mali’s May 17, 2022, coup.

The suspension of U.S. assistance to Mali, coupled with the withdrawal of French counter-terrorist forces, led Mali’s ruling junta to invite the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, implicated in many civilian deaths in Ukraine, to help provide security.

Blyden said DOD is working closely with France on the withdrawal of its 2,400 troops to Niger, where the U.S. maintains some 800 troops conducting ISR on terrorist groups; building partner capacity; and working to counter China and Russia’s influence.

The shrinking U.S. and French foothold in the Sahel means the United States may start to reposition forces in other African countries, especially littoral states that are now threatened by the expansion of terrorist groups.

“Our operations and the support that we provide will continue in a way, but it will be spread more widely,” said Blyden.

“We see the spread moving towards the coastal West Africa countries,” she said, referring to the more prosperous nations on Africa’s west coast. “We’re seeing an opportunity with the French repositioning to really rethink where it is that we might need bolstering of African partners to be able to continue to counter the violent extremist threat.”

Mauritania is one nation that straddles both the Sahel and littoral regions that may benefit from a deeper partnership, the defense official said.

Blyden said that despite the restriction on security cooperation, the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes money to counter Russia and China on the continent, and DOD is looking at programs to counter China and the Wagner Group’s influence.

“We have to recognize that there is a great powers competition going on,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), calling on DOD to find ways to do more. “Russia and China are both very actively engaged on the African continent, and they are also very actively engaged within the Sahel.”

U.S. Air Forces Africa and U.S. Africa Command did not respond to requests by Air Force Magazine for comment. The Pentagon did not immediately provide further details on the security threat and challenges faced.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will host a confirmation hearing July 21 for Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Langley for promotion to general and to be commander of U.S. Africa Command, the senior military official responsible for engaging with nations in the region.

NATO’s New Air Commander Prepares for New Phase of Vigilance Along Eastern Front

July 18, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

FAIRFORD, U.K.—Two weeks into his job as the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa and NATO Allied Air Command, Gen. James B. Hecker has gotten a running start on one of his top priorities—building partnerships.

On the sidelines of the Royal International Air Tattoo from July 15 to 17, Hecker met with air chiefs from dozens of other countries to introduce himself and start building relationships.

“We had, I think it was 67 air chiefs here from all different countries that were here over the last three days,” Hecker told Air Force Magazine in an exclusive interview at RIAT. “And I have had several meetings … with air chiefs from other countries, particularly from the NATO countries, and got to know them—which would have taken me six to seven months to do that just flying around to different countries—so this has really helped me.”

One of the major topics of those discussions, Hecker said, was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fears of further aggression. The developments of the past several months have created an “urgency,” he said, especially among countries bordering Russia.

Like Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Hecker has emphasized his experience of intensely focusing on Russia during the Cold War as something the Air Force—USAFE in particular—will have to get back to. In doing so, he said at RIAT, he hopes to show Russia that further aggression is “not worth it.”

“We want to make sure that we have a good deterrent, but we want to make sure that we deter in a way that is not provocative in nature, that will make this escalate, if you will,” Hecker said.

Part of the U.S. and NATO response to Russia’s war with Ukraine has been to increase NATo’s air policing along its eastern flank, and that’s resulted in substantially increased instances of fighters scrambling to meet Russian aircraft near NATO borders.

But as the war has dragged on for several months, longer than many expected, USAFE and NATO Allied Air Command have adjusted, Hecker said.

“When the invasion first occurred, we had three different [combat air patrols, or CAPS] that we manned 24/7. And that lasted the first couple days until we kind of got a sense for what was going on,” Hecker said. “And then we reduced that down a little bit, but still well above the air policing levels. A lot of times we were just sitting alert. Now we’re actually doing active … CAPs, fully armed with the two-ship fighters from all kinds of different nations.”

Over the past three or four months, Hecker added, NATO has reached a “steady state” in terms of numbers of patrols and hours. Now, as the war continues and the AAC looks to transition once more to an alert but sustainable long-term posture, Hecker said he wants to use a new approach to supplement the enhanced air policing mission.

“We’re trying to get different countries to interact with one another, and we call it Enhanced Vigilance Activities,” Hecker said. “And so we’ll get some aircraft from Poland and Hungary, and they will meet in a certain area, and instead of just doing the combat air patrol with live weapons on, they’ll go out and basically just do training, and exercise and fight against one another and work with one another,” Hecker said.

“So if we do have to do something, we’re interoperable—we’ve worked together in the past. So we’re increasing the number of those kinds of things that we’re doing, which is helping out a lot.”

As Ukrainian Pilot Training Passes House NDAA, Legislators Work to Overcome Roadblocks

July 15, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

Members of Congress took a big step toward granting Ukraine’s wish to defend its territory from Russia with American F-16s when the House passed an amendment to train Ukrainian pilots, but hurdles remain to overcome fears of escalation with Russia, Air Force veteran Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) told Air Force Magazine.

“I understand the conversation,” Houlahan said by phone July 15, responding to concerns by the Biden administration that providing fighter aircraft could escalate tensions between the United States and Russia.

“But I frankly think that we need to be responsive to the request of the Ukrainian administration and [President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, and if this is the thing that he and his country are asking for, then we need to be prepared to be able to provide it,” she said. “Some of the ways that we can be supportive might be with a variety of fighter aircraft and training.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an Illinois Air National Guard pilot, offered the amendment to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act passed July 14. It would authorize $100 million to train Ukrainian pilots and maintainers on American fixed-wing aircraft for air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.

The amendment followed a June bill by Kinzinger and Houlahan that more narrowly called for the same amount of funds to train Ukrainian pilots on platforms such as the F-15, F-16, and Sidewinder missiles.

The Senate version of the NDAA does not have language to fund Ukrainian fighter pilot training, but a reconciliation bill could include the language for a full vote by Congress and the President’s signature.

“This is something that Kinzinger and I, and a variety of others, have been talking to the administration about in various places, either State or DOD or whatever, for about five or six months at this point,” Houlahan said. “This is something that is definitely a conversation that we need to continue to be having between now and when the Senate and House NDAA is reconciled and goes to Congress for approval.”

A staffer in Houlahan’s office told Air Force Magazine that each time the representative has communicated to the Biden administration the need for American combat aircraft and training for Ukraine, the administration has acknowledged the message but does not express clear support. Kinzinger’s office did not respond to requests to comment for this story.

Col. Yuri Ignat, chief spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, told Air Force Magazine on July 13 that even before the Feb. 24 Russian invasion, the Ukrainian Air Force had identified the F-15 and F-16 as platforms it would like to transition to with capabilities far superior to the MiG-29s and Su-27s it now has in its fleet.

“The F-16 has been purposed to fight not only aerial targets but also ground targets, and in the U.S. Air Force, it also is tasked for the suppression of enemy air defenses,” Ignat explained by videoconference from Ukraine’s Air Force headquarters in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

“Given our current situation, we also need a lot more air-to-ground capabilities,” he added. “This is why we’re in the process of thinking that maybe to win this war, we need some other fighters, not only F-16 but the F-15.”

Ignat said Ukraine seeks a lend/lease program or presidential drawdown authority transfer, whereby President Joe Biden transfers fighter jets from U.S. reserves to Ukraine. The U.S. Air Force is set to retire 48 F-16s this year, a pipeline that could outfit three to four Ukrainian fighter squadrons.

Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Anton T. Semelroth told Air Force Magazine that the Biden administration has provided $8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including over 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, Phoenix Ghost and Puma unmanned aerial systems, and air surveillance radars.

On July 1, the administration announced two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems to further strengthen air defenses, but a senior defense official told Air Force Magazine on July 8 that delivery of the systems was “several months” away.

“We have nothing new to announce on aviation capabilities at this time,” Semelroth said in a July 15 statement.

Ukraine has said it has more than 30 pilots with English-language skills ready to begin training without impacting its operations. Ignat estimates that his pilots could be trained to fly F-16s in six months.

Houlahan said a conversation about transferring fighter jets to Ukraine is not dissimilar to other Defense Department negotiations with partner nations that may later need to be backfilled.

“I’m not necessarily even saying frankly that this is F-16s,” Houlahan said. “The language of this particular part of the NDAA speaks to aircraft, and it could be something like A-10s, as an example, which are a resource of ours that we have been saying fairly consistently that we need less and less of.”

Houlahan said the legislation is written to give DOD the flexibility to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs with retired American aircraft.

“I’m not trying to box us into a particular airframe or another. I’m trying to provide an opportunity for us to be able to transfer aircraft and the training that would be necessitated to be effective,” she said. “Nothing happens fast around here, so why not be prepared?”

Air Force Offering Even More Enlistment Bonuses for Certain Career Fields—Here They Are

July 15, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Facing a tough recruiting environment that Air Force Recruiting Service commander Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas recently likened to a “week-to-week dogfight,” the Air Force has expanded its list of jobs that are eligible for initial enlistment bonuses, hoping to entice more potential Airmen.

All told, 22 Air Force Speciality Codes are now eligible for some sort of enlistment bonus—some for four-year contracts, some for six-year deals, and some for both.

That marks a dramatic increase from the beginning of fiscal 2022, when just nine AFSCs were on the list. In April, the Air Force added six career fields, followed by more on July 11. The bonuses will be available until Sept. 30, 2022.

Many of the career fields added this week are in maintenance and offer $6,000 for six-year contracts and $3,000 for four-year deals. The speciality codes are:

2A634, Aircraft Fuel Systems
2A636, Aircraft Electrical & Environmental Systems
2F031, Fuels
2M031, Missile & Space Systems Electronic Maintenance
2M032, Missile & Space Systems Maintenance
2M033, Missile & Space Facilities
2T331, Mission Generation Vehicular Equipment Maintenance
2W131, Aircraft Armament Systems

Bigger bonuses ranging from $12,000 to $20,000 are available to those who sign six-year contracts for computer-focused fields including:

1D731A, Network Operations
1D731B, Systems Operations
1D731D, Security Operations
1D731E, Client Systems Operations

The Air Force is also still offering a “Quick Ship” bonus in which an already fully qualified applicant will get $8,000 to fill a short-notice Basic Military Training vacancy and ship out within five days or less. Thus far, AFRS said in a release, 178 recruits have taken advantage of the Quick Ship bonus.

The Air Force’s expansion of enlistment bonuses comes as all the services are experiencing recruiting challenges, a trend that has started to receive widespread media attention. Even as end strength is projected to decline slightly in the year ahead, recruiters are having a hard time convincing the small pool of eligible young adults to sign up.

At the same time, the Air Force has also recently expanded its list of career fields eligible for retention bonuses, a potential sign that the sky-high retention rates seen during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have started to slip.

That high retention, however, has had lasting effects. The service announced earlier this month that it was expecting lower promotion rates for certain enlisted noncommissioned officer ranks due to high numbers of eligible Airmen and a shift in force grade structures.

AFSC	CAREER FIELD	6-YEAR BONUS	4-YEAR BONUS
1A8X1	Airborne Linguist	$20,000	Not Applicable
1D731A	Network Operations	$12K-$20K	Not Applicable
1D731B	Systems Operations	$12K-$20K	Not Applicable
1D731D	Security Operations	$12K-$20K	Not Applicable
1D731E	Client Systems Operations	$12K-$20K	Not Applicable
1D731R	Radio Frequency Transmission Systems	$6,000	$3,000
1N3XX	Crypto Linguist	$18,000	Not Applicable
1T0X1	SERE	$40,000	Not Applicable
2A534	Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance	$6,000	$3,000
2A632	Aerospace Ground Equipment	$6,000	$3,000
2A634	Aircraft Fuel Systems	$6,000	$3,000
2A636	Aircraft Electrical & Environmental Systems	$6,000	$3,000
2F031	Fuels	$6,000	$3,000
2M031	Missile & Space Systems Electronic Maintenance	$6,000	$3,000
2M032	Missile & Space Systems Maintenance	$6,000	$3,000
2M033	Missile & Space Facilities	$6,000	$3,000
2T331	Mission Generation Vehicular Equipment Maintenance	$6,000	$3,000
2W031	Munitions Systems	$6,000	$3,000
2W131	Aircraft Armament Systems	$6,000	3,000
3E8X1	EOD	$50,000	Not Applicable
9T500	Special Warfare Operator Enlistment	$50,000	Not Applicable
9TE/MAI	Any Mechanical or Electrical Aptitude Area	$6,000	$3,000
AFRS QUICK SHIP	Any AFSC	$8,000	$8,000

USAF Announces 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2022

July 15, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

A selection board considered 36 nominees representing each of the Air Force’s major commands, direct reporting units, and field operating agencies, along with Headquarters Air Force, selecting the 12 winning Outstanding Airmen of the Year based on “superior leadership, job performance, and personal achievements,” according to a news release.

Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass first revealed the winners’ names July 12 on Twitter. The winners include:

Air Force Special Operations Command: Tech. Sgt. Brandon S. Blake, detachment superintendent and registered respiratory care practitioner, 720th Operations Support Squadron, Birmingham, Ala.
U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa: Senior Airman Demarion N. Davis, emissions security manager, 48th Communications Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, England.
Air Force Global Strike Command: Senior Airman Monica Figueroa Santos, nuclear command and control operations senior controller, 341st Missile Wing, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.
Air Force District of Washington: Master Sgt. Kade N. Forrester, infrastructure flight section chief, 11th Contracting Squadron, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, D.C.
Air Combat Command: Senior Master Sgt. Megan A. Harper, operations superintendent, 379th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.
Air Force Reserve Command: Tech. Sgt. Brianne E. Kelleher, command language program manager, 655th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Air Education and Training Command: Tech. Sgt. Alexander W. Messinger, standardization evaluation noncommissioned officer in charge, 802nd Security Forces Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.
Air Mobility Command: Senior Airman Steven C. Peters, emergency medical technician, 60th Healthcare Operations Squadron, Travis Air Force Base, Calif.
Air National Guard: Senior Airman Kristina L. Schneider, fire protection journeyman, 179th Airlift Wing, Mansfield Lahm Air National Guard Base, Ohio.
Pacific Air Forces: Senior Airman Caden A. Soper, F-15 avionics journeyman, 18th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan.
Airman Supporting U.S. Space Force: Senior Airman Christopher T. Thao, network operations technician, 50th Communications Squadron, Schriever Space Force Base, Colo.
Air Force Materiel Command: Tech. Sgt. Jennifer G. Thomas, Air Force vehicle fleet manager, 441st Vehicle Support Squadron, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

The Outstanding Airmen of the Year program debuted at AFA’s 10th annual National Convention in 1956, and the association has continued to shine a spotlight on the outstanding Airmen from each major command every year since.

The Air Force Association will recognize this year’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year during its Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md., in September.